Lesson 7 — Activity 1: The American Revolution

In L6—A3, you learned that many citizens in the English colonies in what is now the United States were very unhappy with British rule. These citizens decided to fight for their independence from Britain.

In this activity, you will learn about the effects of this American Revolution on those who lived in what would become Canada.

This fight was called the American War of Independence and was fought from 1775 until 1783 when the English colonists defeated Britain.

Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge

People in the Canadian colonies, most of whom were French, stayed loyal to Britain during this revolution. Britain recognized and appreciated this, so Britain felt that these people were entitled to continue to follow the terms of the Québec Act.

Not all the colonists in the United States had wanted to leave Britain. After the war, 40,000 people from the United States who wanted to stay British moved to various parts of what is now Canada. These people were called Loyalists. The British government realized that these British settlers would not want to live under the French system of the Québec Act. Because these new settlers had stayed loyal to Britain, the government wanted to reward them.

In 1791, Britain passed the Constitutional Act that divided Québec into Upper and Lower Canada. Upper Canada was upstream on the St. Lawrence River. It was given British laws, language, and religion. Lower Canada was lower down the river. It was allowed to continue to use French civil law, keep the French language, and practise the Roman Catholic religion. Both colonies operated under British criminal laws.